Nothing Left to Burn [DISCONTINUED]

Introduction

Maggie wasn't sure what to expect as she stepped into the dark basement. It felt like her whole body was shaking, though from the outside she looked composed. From his cell, Negan had heard her heated exchange outside with Michonne and welcomed her with open arms as his angel of death, briefly praising her fiery personality before he began taunting her with vivid recollections of the night he killed her husband.

"I used to say I didn't enjoy killing," he drawled, probably grinning though she couldn't see his face from where he stood deep in the shadows. "But what I did to your husband...christ, I already forgot his name," he lied, stoking the rising fire of her rage. She'd mentioned her husband's name only a moment ago and even if she hadn't, Negan remembered what it was. "What I did to him, killing him the way I did, that was fun." With that, Maggie slipped the key into the cell and unlocked it and Negan lowered himself to his knees, as she'd ordered when she first approached him. 

"Get to it. Kill me," he said softly. "It was all worth it."

They had been talking face to face but he stayed towards the back of the cell in the shadows, entirely away from the light. Maggie wasn't exactly in a mindset to ponder his reasons for taunting her so cruelly, for tearing the wound he'd inflicted back open and pouring salt in it. Afterall, he was quite possibly the biggest asshole she'd ever met. But somewhere under her rage, she could tell he was behaving this way for a reason. His voice sounded strong and steady, but he was hiding his face in the dark.

"Come into the light," Maggie demanded, struggling to keep her own voice steady.

"What? Do you not have it in you?" he spat. With the last few words, his voice seemed to falter slightly and Maggie was more sure that what he was doing was calculated. Maybe he wanted a quick death and thought getting her riled up would cause her to lose control and strike as hard as possible. Maybe he was just trying to die with dignity, hiding his real emotions over his imminent death. But she wasn't going to allow him that dignity. She wanted to see the tears she had a feeling were pooling in his eyes.

"I want to see you in the light," she said.

"Come on. Kill me. It's what you came here for! You kill me," Negan growled through his teeth.

"Come into the light," Maggie ordered again, just barely keeping her tears at bay. This was the moment she'd been waiting for but it didn't come happily or easily.

"Kill me," Negan said again, though this time it wasn't a demand but a plea. He fell forwards from his knees, hiding his face in his hands as he cried, and in the same instant Maggie wrenched open the cell door and pulled him out by the collar of his shirt. She threw him against the opposite wall where he fell to the floor and continued sobbing.

"Please just kill me," he repeated, looking up at her with tears falling from his eyes before he again covered his face.

"Why?" Maggie asked calmly, though there was still obvious anger bubbling just under the surface. Almost everything in her wanted to kill him, but if he wanted to die, that changed things. She didn't want to do him any favors. She wanted to do what would make him suffer most.

"Please, you just have to. Just do it."

"Tell me why. Why should I?"

"SO I CAN BE WITH MY GIRLS!" Negan shouted, abandoning any last attempts at disguising his distraught state. "So I can be with Lucille and Aven! I should be dead. I have to be dead. It should have been me, not them, not Aven. And it has to be you. Because I can't, I can't do it. I tried, I can't. I can't be like this. Please, please don't make me stay like this. Just settle it. Kill me. Please." 

The room went silent except for the sound of his sobs as Maggie processed his desperate request. The man she saw before her was not the man she had met over a year earlier. This was not the man who strutted around with a leather jacket and a spiked club with a loaded army behind him. This was not the man who threatened her life and the life of her unborn child before bludgeoning her husband in front of her. He looked basically the same aside from the clothes and the long, scraggly beard, but now his position above her had changed as he cowered at her feet and begged for death. What he was really begging for was mercy, and he wasn't going to get that from Maggie.

"Get back in your cell," she said after a long moment of wrestling with her impulse to kill.

"No, please," Negan scoffed. He was in complete disbelief at her words as he truly believed things were finally going to be made right, that he was about to be with the ones he lost after months of torturing himself over their deaths.

"I came to kill Negan and you're already worse than dead," Maggie said. "That settles it." Negan reluctantly pushed himself to his feet and dragged himself pitifully back into the cell, closing it himself so Maggie could lock it behind him, sealing his fate in a way neither of them would have expected just minutes earlier.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this," he muttered more to himself than to her, rambling through his tears as he knelt down in front of his bed to cry against the mattress, his back to Maggie. "It should have been me. I need to see them again. I need to see Aven." 

Maggie turned to leave but wavered, wanting to deal one last blow to his ego if possible. She didn't know what Rick had told him about Aven's fate, and she didn't care. What she did know, though, was that she'd personally sent Aven away to the Kingdom so she could be integrated into society without anyone she personally made enemies with having to be around her (Maggie being one of those enemies). It was Rick's idea to save Aven after she'd been beaten half to death. Maggie would have just let her die but once the woman was back on her feet Maggie bit her tongue and let her live, albeit not at Hilltop. Maggie was saving her wrath for Negan.

"Aven isn't dead," she said smoothly. "She's moved on without you and she's better for it. Just like everyone else."

"Sh...she's..." Negan began in shock, not turning to face Maggie. He wasn't sure how long he'd been in the cell, definitely over a year at this point. He'd been languishing in the dark, hoping for death thinking Aven was gone, the image of her face covered in blood plaguing his dreams. But now learning she was alive, this changed everything. "Wh-where is she?"

"Doesn't matter. This cell is the only place you'll ever be and you won't be seeing her here."

Maggie left and Negan was frozen as a rush of various emotions surged through his mind. He was ecstatic to hear Aven was alive, but that didn't negate the terrible things he already felt so deeply, and it certainly didn't negate the questions that this news brought. Where is she? Is she okay? Why is she still with these people? Has she tried to see me? Does she think I'm dead?

The only thing that Negan knew for sure in that moment was he wasn't going to be in that cell for much longer. He didn't know how he would just escape now of all times, after over a year imprisoned, but he was going to get out and he was going to find Aven. 

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Author's Note - This is the first part of Poker Face 2: Nothing Left to Burn. If you haven't read Poker Face, I suggest doing so to get Negan and Aven's backstory.

This is the most I will take from the show, as the rest of the story will split from it completely.